September 2, 2022

Swine farmers in Thailand urge crackdown on smuggled pork

Swine farmers in Thailand are urging the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives to take aggressive action against dishonest traders who are flooding the domestic market with smuggled pork, which they said will eventually destroy the country's swine rearing industry, Thai PBS World reported.

The Swine Raisers Association of Thailand and swine farmers' associations, who represent farmers in five regions of the nation, sent the request to Thailand’s Agriculture Minister Chalermchai Sri-on.

Surachai Sutthitham, president of the Swine Raisers Association of Thailand, said smuggled pork is typically priced between THB 130 (~US$3.54; THB 10 = US$0.27) and THB 135 (~US$3.68) per kg in markets, while locally produced pork costs between THB 190 (~US$5.18) to THB 200 (~US$5.45) per kg.

He asserted that up to 90% of barbecue restaurants use smuggled pork to lower the cost of their buffet sets. He added that swine farmers are currently raising a million pigs to meet local demand, but he issued a warning that if pork smuggling is allowed to continue, they will face unfair competition.

According to a representative of the Ratchaburi Pig Farmers' Association, the cost of raising a single pig is approximately THB 1,000, which forces farmers to sell their pigs for between THB 80 (~US$2.18) and THB 100 (~US$2.73) per kg off-farm. This equals a retail price of THB 190 (~US$5.18) to THB 200 (~US$5.45) per kg.

The Livestock Development and Customs departments have conducted 2,425 seizures of pork that had been brought into Thailand illegally from Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia, and the Lao PDR since the beginning of the year.

Pig farmer associations assert that more than 1,000 containers of smuggled pork have been delivered this year, despite the fact that 325,027 kg of smuggled pork, worth about THB 65 million (~US$1.7 million), have already been destroyed.

-      Thai PBS World